Congrats decath! I am probably 10-12 years away but looking at age 50-52. FIRE is so liberating.

My stress level is already decreased but I have to admit that my career motivation is also diminished.

cheers,-progmtl

I've experienced that as well to a degree. I figured it had more to do with me hitting my 50th birthday. I work just as hard as ever but as a software developer, I have little desire to learn new things just for the heck of it like I used to. I will most certainly learn new tech for an immediate need and delve right into it since it adds interest to my job.

But the days of pouring over websights, training tools and tech manuals in the evening while the wife reads a book are over. I've learned how to program with a lot of software tools over my career that were never used at all.

Now I prefer to spend my free time pursueing other interests and hobbies.

It's interesting how I find myself thinking about things now. With FIRE much closer, it brings a new perspective on just about everything. For example, I took a week of vacation this week because If I don't start taking it, I will lose it at year end. In the past, I would just let some of my days expire because I did not want my boss to think I was taking advantage of our generous vacation policy at work. (4 weeks of vac and 2 weeks of personal). Now I don't care so much. <g>

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